***
Margo Jones stood beside her perky friends, feigning excitement. They had a reason to be pumped for the night that lie ahead of them. They had a reason to sway their hips from left to right as they inched forward in the line stretched in front of Buckwild Saloon.
Her friend, Kerry, wore a spaghetti strap tank and skinny jeans that only rail thin girls could get away with. Her other friend, Liz, wore a crimson dress that fell just below her bottom and a pair of self-proclaimed "fuck me" boots. Both girls were textbook examples of the hot girls that guys go to clubs hoping to score with.
Margo was less assuming, wearing a polka dot tunic with shirring that was supposed to camouflage her ample belly and draw eyes to her cleavage instead. What she lacked in the toned tummy, hell, toned body department, she made up for in the boob department. She’d coupled the tunic with leggings and strappy heels. Not that it mattered. She’d always been relatively popular, with lots of girlfriends—boyfriends, not so much.
As far back as Margo could remember, she'd had a thing for white boys. She had no problem pulling the gangsta types, but she craved a nice preppy guy with deep eyes that she could fall into.
As they finally reached the bouncer, a bulky man with an orange tan, he leered at her two friends, licking his lips. "How are you ladies doing tonight?"
Liz gave him a curt, dismissive nod as she forked over her ID. She was the opposite of Margo, zeroing in on black guys like a heat seeking missile.
Kerry drunk up the attention as she saddled up to the bouncer. " Much better now." She twirled a dark strand around her finger before she handed him her ID.
He glanced at it, then handed back Liz's. "Y’all are just babies! 21 years old."
"Babies!" Kerry hissed, giving him a playful shove. "If you get a break, maybe you should come inside and I'll show you how grown up I am."
Margo's caramel skin turned two shades darker. Partly because Kerry was draping all over the guy, partly because the bouncer was doing a thorough job of completely ignoring her.
He barely even glanced at Margo’s ID, then in an all-business tone grunted, "You're good to go."
She snatched her ID, putting on a brave face as Kerry roped an arm around her and pulled her into the pulsing bar.
Buckwild Saloon had two floors. The first had a bar lined with the usual suspects, an expansive dance floor, and a mechanical bull that sat forebodingly. The second was mostly standing room, where folks could chill and have a bird’s eye view of the main floor.
It was Friday night, so it was decently packed. Margo envied Kerry's giggle of delight. Most of the men that filled the room were achievable goals for her. Margo would be lucky if some rusty old dude with a black girl fetish tried to awkwardly bust a move up on her.
Liz shepherded them to the bar, her golden hair flapping to the beat. "A little liquid courage?"
Margo nodded her agreement. A screwdriver or two would make the inevitable night of watching her friends snag guys easier to swallow. She saddled up to the bar and had to double take when she saw the guy pouring the booze. The bartender looked like something out of an Abercrombie and Fitch catalog. Golden skin, but not overly so, a muscular frame beneath a black button down shirt and dark wash jeans that fit him as seductively as sin.
"Hey sexy!" Kerry said loudly, waving at him. "A round of drinks for me and my girls!"
Margo's eyes went wide when he looked over with a frown. When their eyes met, his face softened and he smiled, a dimple setting in his right cheek. Her heart stuttered in her chest. Was he smiling at her?
Liz slid up beside her. "He's cute for a white guy, huh?" She gave Margo a nudge. "I think he just smiled at me."
Margo mentally shook herself as she broke her gaze from his. Of course he was smiling at Liz. This was gonna be a long night.
"I'm gonna head to the bathroom, okay?" she said to her friend, leaning in so she
M. R. James, Darryl Jones